Oops - better make that 104

My accounting standards have been found sadly wanting - at least three extra cheeses have been found - all dating from another boozy wine and cheese night.

So here they are

Lochilean Triple Cream - a magnificent centrepiece  of a cheese - cow's milk, brie style from Shepparton (or thereabouts).

 Rolf Beeler selection Gruyere - over the year its these aged mountain cheeses that have become a  big favourite of mine.

Ski Queen Gjetost cheese - Wrong, Wrong, Wrong, Wrong!!

#101 Meredith Ashed Chèvre

Sharing honours with the Lancashire bomb to make up the ton tally, the Meredith Ashed Chevre was, as the name suggests, a soft goats cheese with ashed rind.

It had a lovely sour smell, goaty flavour with a slight hint of lemon. The texture was beautifully creamy and light.



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#100 Lancashire Bomb

Wow - this was it - one hundred cheeses in a year.

The Lancashire bomb shares honours with the Meredith Chevre for number one hundred.

Appropriately enough they were eaten on boxing day 2013 with the Australia v England cricket on in the background. And even more appropriate for the cricket backgound, the Chevre was ashed. (Some might say unkindly the bomb shape was also appropriate for the English teams series efforts).

The Lancacshire bomb looks like something the coyote buys from ACME that will inevitably go off in his face.

The surface is wax and envelopes a light, soft texture that's super crumbly and buttery pale.

It had a mild sharpness at the back of the palate.






yellow


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#99 Will studd cheddar

One of the "Will Studd selects" range. The cheddar was typically waxy with a deep, golden colour. I swear I got some citrus flavour from this.


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#98 Capricorn Goat Brie by Woodside cheesewrights

Another regular in the ton tally, Woodside of South Australia make a fine goat's milk here in the style of a camembert (but yes they call it a Brie).

The Capricorn has won a handful of gold and sliver medals at cheese competitions across Australia.

It was pale, white and creamy with a strong goat flavour.





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#97 People's Republic of Brunswick Haloumi (Home made by me)

I didn't have to go down this path but it's too late to turn back. I'm cheese making and the first style I aspired to butcher was haloumi.

It's hard to review your own cheese efforts - it tasted like haloumi - that's the benchmark I set myself and that's the benchmark I met. Mission accomplished

Going through the process was relatively painless and rewarding for the insights into how cheese is made (at least one small batch in a home kitchen. The surprise with making haloumi is that it's boiled as a final step in the cheese making process. I'm now one week into the creation of Camembert, but there a 4-5 weeks before maturity when I can share the results and, sadly it will play no part in the ton tally.

Here's some Haloumi pics.

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#96 Coulommiers

Made in the Seine-et-Marne region of France from cow's milk, Coulommiers is largely indstinguishable from many other french bries (at least to me anyway). Our tasting was very ripe (check out the ooziness in the photo), and had an intense butter flavour with a very faint taste of mushroom.









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#95 Cabot's Cloth Bound Cheddar

Cabot's Cloth Bound Cheddar - how very English right?

Wrong - this cheddar is from the USA (upstate New York to be a little more precise).

Yes, some of the finest tastings in the ton tally hail from the US, and here is another example.

It's a pale, very crumbly  and sharp cheddar. Classic and classy.





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#94 L'Artisan Raclette (Fermier?)

Another from Timboon's L'Artisan cheese makers. I think this is the Fermier described on their website. It's a smooth semi hard cow's cheese with a wonderfyl mild caramel flavour.



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#93 Maria's home made marinated goats cheese

Maria is a colleague of my wife who keeps her own goats and makes cheese.

Marinated in olive oil and herbsyou can smell the goatyness. The cheese was beautifully fresh with a soft, velvet texture. There was a strong salt kick (but not overdone) balancing s slight sourness.

Maria is a cheese making artist!!





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#92 Le Meli Melo

Another cheese from that boozy wine and cheese night so no tasting notes on this I'm afraid. But I can tell you that it is made in France near the Spanish border using both sheep and goat milk.


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#91 L'Artisan Petit Paul

Timboon has been great cheese making territory for many years and L'artisan cheeses have featured before in the ton tally.

The Petit Paul is a firm washed rind cow's milk cheese matured for at least four months.

For better or worse, this cheese was sampled at a particularly boozy wine and cheese event, and so no tasting notes exist, (what goes on at the wine and cheese night, stays at the wine and cheese night) but there is a lingering (if fuzzy) memory of satisfaction with the flavour.

Best I get some more, but I believe this is a limited edition.











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#90 Buche de tradition

Jacquin & Fils are based in the Loire valley of France where they have been making cheese for 65 years.

Buche is French for log (a buche de noel is a traditional christmas dessert), and this was one fine looking log of aged soft goat cheese.

The log is formed around a hollow straw in the centre (removed before eating).


It had a velvety texture and an unmistakeable goaty-ness.






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#89 Fromage Vivienne

Fromage Vivienne was a washed rind, cloth bound sheep's milk cheese made by Swiss Cheese maker Willi Schmid.

It was strong on the nose with a very intense, mushroomy flavour. A soft but not oozing texture.





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#88 Milch something or other

A raw milk Swiss cheese with a mild flavour - I assume it was cow's milk but couldn't find anything on the web for this one.





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#87 Sternenberger

Sternenberger is a swiss cow's milk cheese made near Zurich. It's a mild washed rind cheese with slightly nutty and caramel flavours.

The orange rind comes from the regular washing process using brine and vegetable based food colouring.
















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#86 Bleu de Laqueuille

Bleu de Laqueuille is from the mountainous Auvergne region of central France. The cheese is made from cow's milk and the blue green veins come from a mould sourced from rye bread. It's aged for three months before ripe.

This was a typically sharp, flavour. Cutting without being metallic and with a strong salt kick. The texture was very creamy.











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